Kappa
Kappa They do have one weakness, and that is that all of their power comes from a small dish which is found on top of their skull. This dish is filled with water, and if the water ever spills out or dries up, the kappa will lost all of its strength and magic. They go to great lengths to protect their dishes, but they have a strong sense of honor, and so always return a bow. Young children are taught to bow very low if they see a kappa, in which case the kappa will bow back, spilling the dish. Kappa captured in this way often have their arms or legs cut off, and only returned after the kappa promises to teach some magic or hidden knowledge to their captor. This is one of the most famous yokai, with kind of a water goblin with a wide range of supernatural powers. They’re very mischievous troublemakers, and often end up interacting with humans, for better or for worse. They’re somewhat monkey-like, with rubbery, scaly skin and turtle shells. They have webbed hands and feet, reek of fish, and are supposed to have slippery, stretchable body parts. Sometimes called Garappa Hyosube There are a few stories of people who had unfortunate run-ins with a hyosube. In one story, a woman caught a hyosube who was trashing her eggplant garden. The hyosube got angry and destroyed all of the eggplants, and afterwards the woman turned purple and soon died. In another story, a man who went to take a morning bath found hairs and a horrible smell all over his bathroom, so he made sure to empty all the hot water after his bath that night. In retaliation, the hyosube killed his horse. In a third story, another man found his bathroom befouled by a hyosube and threw the dirty hairs and water out the window. Some of the hairs landed on his horse, which promptly died. Seco The Seco is a kappa child of about two or three-year-old that lives in the mountains. In the middle of the night, if you walk down the mountain and hear voices filled with excitement, it is because of the Seco. It is said that they dance around trees at night. Suiko The suiko (water tiger) is a king-sized variety of kappa living in and around the Chikugo River (Kyushu), Lake Biwa (Shiga prefecture), and other bodies of water across Japan. In addition to prowling around at night and making mischief, the suiko has the power to possess people. Those possessed by a suiko descend into a temporary state of madness, but they recover quickly after the creature withdraws. At least once a year, the suiko drags a human victim into the water, sucks out his blood, and returns the body to shore. It is best not to have a funeral for the victim of a suiko attack. Instead, the body should be left on a wooden plank inside a small thatched hut in a field. If done properly, this course of action causes the flesh of the suiko perpetrator to slowly rot until it dies. Ichimokunyudo The master of Lake Kamo is said to be a water god called Ichimoku Nyūdō. He perpetrated mischief on a horse and was caught by the horse's owner, and was pardoned on the condition that he deliver fish every day, but Ichimoku Nyūdō only asked that the lapis lazuli hook on which he hung the fish be returned each time.However, the horse keeper violated this agreement, and used the lapis lazuli for the byakugō on the Kannon in the shrine at the end of the lagoon.Afterwards, on the 15th of January Ichimoku Nyūdō came to take back what was his, but due to the prayers of the family who protected the shrine and the protection of the village youths, when morning came he was forced to withdraw.Even now this shrine is called the one-eyed Kannon shrine, and it benefits the local religion. Yamawarawa Every year on the fall equinox they perform a mass migration into the mountains, transforming into one-eyed hairy beasties the size of small children as they go. They live in this form as Yamawarawa for the whole winter, and return back to the rivers in another mass migration that takes place on the spring equinox.Anyone unlucky enough to be caught in the middle of this massive migration is in for a nasty surprise. Yamawarawa hate to be spied upon, and they might viciously slaughter anyone they suspect of peeping on them Kashambo According to local legend in Wakayama and Mie prefectures, the kappa water imps have two forms. During the summer months they are called gōrai or gorambo and live in rivers, but in the autumn they begin climbing into the mountains for the winter and become kashambo. The kashambo are odd little characters the size of a six or seven-year-old child, with heads like poppy buds and bodies clad in blue travelling robes.They are said to leave footprints like waterfowl and sometimes toss pebbles into houses alongtheir route - thus the locals know the imps are migrating and winter is on its way. Sometimes a kashambo will wander into a person’s home and stay there, and while at first it seems to cause no harm, it often winds up spiriting away horses and making cows sick with its saliva. Category:Yokai List Category:Yokai